North Carolina Senator Kay Hagan has
said a proposed constitutional amendment which would ban gay marriage
in the state could lead to job losses.
Voters will decide on Amendment One
during North Carolina's May 8 primary. The constitutional amendment
would bar the state from recognizing the relationships of gay and
lesbian couples with marriage, civil unions and possibly domestic
partnerships.
“Jobs are my number one priority and
we cannot afford to take our eye off the ball and give businesses a
reason to grow and expand elsewhere instead of right here in North
Carolina,” Kagan said in a video recorded for Protect All North
Carolina Families, the umbrella group working to defeat the proposal.
“We have seen and heard from business
leaders across North Carolina who are worried about our ability to
compete with states that are not passing such divisive amendments.
We are in a hyper competitive struggle with states around the country
to recruit jobs.”
“In this competitive environment we
simply cannot afford to pass Amendment One.” (The video is
embedded in the right panel of this page. Visit
our video library for more videos.)
Republican Senator Richard Burr, North
Carolina's senior senator, has not spoken directly on the amendment,
but he has previously supported an amendment to the Constitution
which would define marriage as a heterosexual union.
(Related: North
Carolina marriage ban lead cut in half over 6 months.)